Kay Orchison

Kay Orchison is a multidisciplinary artist from Sydney, Australia. He makes digital and alternative-process photographic prints, installation art and films. He also writes and performs music.

Kay has made cover art for handmade limited edition poetry books with Vagabond Press since 1999. He has also made cover art for Salt, Giramondo and Southerly. Poetry journal Cordite has discussed his work with Vagabond and his collaborations with poet and publisher Michael Brennan. In 1999 Michael Brennan and Kay Orchison won the Siglo Prize for their collaborative work Locuting Love.

Kay undertook a residency at the Parramatta Artists Studios 2008-2009. He joined Salmagundi Studios in Arncliffe when it was founded in late 2009 and moved to Mothership Studios in Marrickville when Salmagundi shut down in 2015. He is married to Community Land Trust expert and housing activist Louise Crabtree and is currently the primary carer for their three children. They live in Petersham, NSW.

110hz

Why 110hz?

It’s supposedly the approximate resonant frequency of the human skull and also of many significant archaeological sites around the world. It’s a note that’s well within the vocal range of an adult male and it has been suggested by limited research that skull resonance can effect a mild sense of euphoria.

Basically I just think this is interesting.

What will and won’t be happening on this blog.

I’m interested in how long art has been part of the human experience and in the deep compulsion people feel to make and experience it. My working theory is that art is an old, deep complex of neurological impulses with roots in mimicry and sociability. It induces experience rather than communicating directly, is common to every known culture past and present and is present in very small children before most frontal lobe development. I intend to explore this and discuss art in terms of paleoarchaeology and neuroaesthetics from the point of view of of a practicing multidisciplinary artist. I will also post new creative work as it is completed.

If you want to discuss what I have written, please post on Diaspora or Twitter under the tag #110hz. I’ll be delighted to hear from you even if it is to tell me I’m totally wrong, and I will respond if time permits.

Last but not least, this is a blog not a PhD or a peer-reviewed journal. Try as I might to remain cogent, not everything I post here will be fully referenced, perfectly thought out or even properly grammatical. I’m documenting my investigation online at least partly because attempting to communicate with other people forces me to think more clearly than I do when merely making notes to myself. That does not mean I’ll always be right, or even make sense.

In the meantime, I will often change my opinions, I will get things wrong, I will say things that are woolly and daft. Correct me by all means if you can see that I am wrong and I will incorporate suggested changes where appropriate.

About intellectual property

Read this if you intend to use my work

It’s increasingly clear that intellectual property law as it stands – particularly in Australia but generally throughout the developed world – is a tool designed mainly to protect the rich from the poor. It does little to protect the rights and practically nothing to protect the income of most artists. Further to this, it hinders the propagation of ideas and forces publicity to run through established commercial channels, diverting artists’ rightfully earned income to parasitic middlemen.

I’ll reference all that later, but if you want somewhere to start reading, begin with Common As Air by Lewis Hyde. Also read this.

So basically I’m putting the money where the mouth is. All of my work on this site, from the code to the images, sounds and text, is licensed under the following terms:

If you want to use something from this site and make it available to share exactly as I have done here, please just make sure you clearly attribute the original work to me. Linking to this site is also a good idea. If you are going to make money from my work or from your remix of my work, then you MUST contact me and seek permission, and if I do give it I’ll probably want a cut of the money.

NO THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE ENTITLED TO JUST TAKE AND USE MY WORK IN ANY WAY YOU SEE FIT. Be cool, do the right thing, and check with me if in doubt.

Lastly, it’s sad that I even feel the need to say this but really, where I have quoted someone then the quote is THEIR work NOT mine and is not for use under the above license. Please try to pay attention.